SINBAD THE SAILOR

In the lushly hypnotic setting of his sumptuous palace filled with perfumes and spices and soft fabrics, a polished and occasionally reflective Sinbad spins his tales of boiling seas and dragonfish, gigantic birds and serpents, and the ancient passenger whom Sinbad shakes in this version with the realization that it is his own death that he carries on his shoulders. Alain Le Foil places a plump and jowly Sinbad in dramatic compositions of elaborate patterns and sinuous lines -- all of which quite suits the extravagance of his adventures and the rather ornate suavity of this abbreviated adaptation.